1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to telecommunications networks, and more specifically, to video-conference capability on telecommunications networks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are obvious benefits to video-conferencing. It replaces time consuming and expensive business travel. When made convenient, it can facilitate interactive face to face communication in situations where no communications would have taken place previously--when travel is too cumbersome, and a phone call is too impersonal. In many situations, a video-conference is the most effective and efficient method to exchange information. Since many businesses have come to depend on the exchange of information for basic operations, it is desirable for them to utilize video-conferencing whenever possible.
Video-conference capability has developed in two primary areas. One is the development of the control and quality of the audio-visual generation and display equipment. The other is the development of network capabilities to connect the audio-visual equipment located in the remote video-conference sites. While these parallel developments have provided video-conference capability, the acceptance of these systems can be enhanced by improving the ease of using these systems in tandem.
Various devices have been developed to control the on-site audio and video equipment. These devices have become user-friendly while the costs for both the equipment and the networks has declined. The end user can now efficiently control the on-site audio and video equipment.
The network configurations that connect the different video-conference sites have also developed an effective capability. Public networks can transmit video and audio information over standard communications media using pulse code modulation. These public networks have the capability to establish effective video and audio communication paths between the different video-conference sites around the world.
Unfortunately, the control of the network has not been provided to the end user in the user-friendly format required to gain wide use of the video-conference throughout the business environment. The end user is the one who makes the decision to use a video-conference, but does not have a simple and convenient way to control the network.
The present network configurations limit the end user's access and control of video-conference capabilities. Private wideband networks are limited because they can only be connected to other conference sites on the private network. Private networks also require great capital expense to install and maintain, as well as individualized control systems. The more accessible public networks require cumbersome set-up procedures that do not allow convenient access to video-conference capability. Public networks do not provide user-friendly control of the video-conference once it has been established.
There is available from at least one source, a microcomputer based product that provides some control of a public video-conference network from a remote location. The product does not provide the end user with full video-conference capability based in the simplest format. The product allows a person familiar with the software to connect to the network database and search for video-conference information. It also allows a person familiar with the software to make reservations for a video-conference.
Unfortunately, the product does not provide the end user with efficient access and full control of the video-conference network. In this system, video-conferencing is driven by reservations only. Impromptu conferences must still be reserved in order to start a conference. For example, if a reserved conference is ready to start thirty minutes early, a new reservation must be made. The end user must specify conference start time and length, and may not just naturally start and stop a conference as if it were a phone call. When the estimated conference time has expired, a new reservation must be obtained to restart the conference. Additionally, if the conference has ended before the total reserved time has expired, the user has no convenient way of ending the conference and may be incurring video-conferencing charges.
The product further requires that all users would have to become trained on the software. An untrained end user does not have direct access to video-conferencing. The product also requires either that a microcomputer be dedicated to video-conferencing, or that end users share the microcomputer with other applications.
In this scenario, microcomputer capacity is wasted by dedication to video-conferencing. In the alternative, the computer is shared by many applications, and this lack of dedication may cause conflicts. Additionally, some end users may not choose to become literate with the software and will need to obtain help in order to access video-conference capability. Inevitably, this system can become a service run by a receptionist (i.e. airline reservations), and not a system that facilitates real time control and use of the video-conference network by the end user.
The result is that while the technology to provide video-conference capability exists, it is not being deployed as fully as anticipated due to problematic end user control. The proper system should allow video communication that is as convenient to use as placing a phone call. Thus, the beneficial resource of the video-conference will continue to remain substantially untapped until the capability is given to the end user in an acceptable format. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a system which provides the end user with an ease of access and control of a video-conference network.